


Time is on my Side

by Draycevixen



Category: Blake's 7, Sapphire and Steel
Genre: Crossover, Crossover Pairing, M/M, Rare Pairing, Timey-Wimey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-17
Updated: 2011-03-17
Packaged: 2017-10-17 01:24:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/171462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draycevixen/pseuds/Draycevixen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>.</p><p>Avon has helped Steel forget time before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time is on my Side

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hearts_blood](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=hearts_blood).



> .  
> Written for Hearts_blood, who asked for Avon/Steel and gave me the prompt, "ball bearings."

.

He thought about leaving when he first spotted the familiar figure weaving his way through the crowd. Perhaps it was just a coincidence that they were in the same place at the same time, he snorted at the thought, still, he didn’t want to miss the exchange he’d been carefully setting up for three months and he just didn’t feel like moving. Well, that, and then there was the crushing boredom that had now lasted for... He really couldn’t remember how long.

“Two years, four months, two weeks, three days, six hours and—”

“Steel.” He looked up in to the expressionless face, instinctively calculating just how much Steel’s antique clothing would sell for to a museum that didn’t ask too many questions.

“Avon.”

No matter how many times they’d crossed paths their names always came out as a statement of fact rather than as a greeting.

“Twenty-seven times.”

 _Out of my head, Steel._

Steel settled on to the edge of the chair next to him, weight pitched forward like he was about to stand up again.

The only times he ever seen Steel completely relaxed, he’d been lying naked on Avon’s bed after he’d fucked him, his hair fanned out across the pillow. The last time had been—

“Two years, four months, two weeks, two days and five hours ago. And it was against a wall.”

 _I said, out of my head, or I’ll open all the doors in here and take you on the full tour_. Avon liked to think he saw Steel shudder.

“Let’s not do that.” Steel edged back slightly further in the chair.

“ _Why_ are you here?”

“Ball bearings.”

“What?”

“Ball bearings, on one of the upper decks. Ball bearings stacked in the most peculiar manner.”

“And they don’t belong here.”

“Exactly.”

“So, you weren’t looking for me.”

“Why would I look for you? I always know where... No. You look... well.”

“I look old. _Older._ Unlike you.” Steel still looked exactly the same as he had eight years before when they’d first met. He waited, but Steel didn’t correct it to the twelve years it really was, so it appeared that Steel had at least done as requested and got out of his mind. “I’m trying to imagine exactly where the attic would be.”

“The attic?”

“The one where you keep your picture. There was a writer on Earth, many—”

“Wilde. Another man out of time.”

“I suppose you used to... harass him as well. It’s rather a pity you didn’t save _him._ ”

“Very unfortunate, but it would have been against the rules.”

“And yet you just stepped up behind the federation troops, paralyzed them with the... warmth of your personality, and removed me from a fight where I probably would have died.” Avon didn’t think of Blake and the others. Not at all, certainly no more than usual.

“ _Certainly_ would have died.”

“Thank you for that vote of confidence.” Avon started to cross his arms, realized what he was doing and forced himself to relax.

“And you still resent me for it.”

“...From time to time. Why, Steel?”

“Why, what?” Steel’s head tilted slightly, his hair falling across his eyes.

“Why did you decide to rescue me? No one asked you to do it.”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“And there’s that look again. I would imagine that’s the look I used to have on my face when I spoke to Vila.”

“You miss your friends.”

“Perhaps, but I was speaking of Vila... So, you’re not here for me?”

“No.”

“And you didn’t save my life two years ago—”

“Two years, four months, two weeks, three—”

“Because of the nights I showed you how to forget time for a while.”

“No, as if such a thing was even possible.”

“So you’re only here to sort out your ball... bearings.”

“Yes, as I have already explained.”

Avon rose to his feet. “Don’t let the inter-dimensional vortex hit you in the arse on your way out.”

“It’s not a vortex, it’s a—”

“Goodbye, Steel.”

 

By the time Steel caught up with him, he was halfway back to his room, already calculating how long it would take to reschedule the exchange. He stopped walking when he felt Steel’s hand on his arm, turning him. He stared down at the hand and then slowly back up at Steel who quickly removed it.

“I did it. I stacked them.”

“That explains the ‘peculiar manner.’ Why did you do it?”

“So I would have an excuse to come here, and to see you again, Avon. And perhaps to conduct another experiment in making me forget time, at least temporarily.”

“Another temporal experiment? Come with me.”

 

.


End file.
